Happy 2018! Welcome to the Year-by-Year Poll looking back at 2018. It is time again 1) to bring on the new year, and 2) to celebrate the movies from the year just ended.

The Rules

The rule is slightly different from our usual poll. In addition to poll the films, we will include polls for the 4 acting categories (leading actor, leading actress, supporting actor, and supporting actress).

The eligible films are the following:

1) Feature films, documentaries, short films, TV movies and TV mini-series, but not continuing TV series or individual TV episodes.

2) Listed as 2018 according to IMDb

3) Listed according to IMDb prior to 2018 if the film released in 2018 in your country. These usually are 2017 films and sometimes 2016 films. If earlier than 2016 and I do not notice any 2018 release at any country, I may disqualify it unless you can justify the inclusion in your ballot.

You may list up to 20 films for the film poll, no minimum number.

You may list up to 10 performances for each of the 4 acting categories. If you are not sure whether a performance is a leading or a supporting role, put it in the category you deem most fit. The split will consolidated later to the category with the most points follow by number of mentions and by higher ranked.

If you have an actor or actress in multiple films in your list, please list their performances for the different films at different slots since they are different performances.

Your ballot can be either ranked or unranked, but I will assume it's ranked unless otherwise stated. For ranked ballots it makes it easier if you use a numbered list.

The Scoring

For ranked ballots, the top-ranked title will receive a number of points equal to the number of titles on the ballot, with each succeeding title receiving one fewer point. So the top title on a list of 20 films will receive 20 points, the next 19 points and so on. If the list has only 10 films, the top title will receive 10 points, the next one 9, and so on. If there are 5 films on the list, the top film will receive 5 points, the next one 4, well you get the idea.

For unranked ballots, each title will receive an equal share of the total points that would have been allotted to the ballot if it had been ranked. If there are 20 films on the ballot, this means each one would receive 10.5 points.

The scoring for the performances is the same as films except that the scoring is for lists up to 10 slots.

This poll will run for through Mid Feb and will close on Sunday February 17 midnight Eastern Time or whenever I sign on the Monday following.

You may update your ballot at any time before the poll closes.

Don't worry too much if you have not seen enough films. You are still welcome to participate. The result turned out to be quite decent every year with enough participation. The poll may help you keep up to date the recent films. It helped me every year.

After this poll, we will return to our regular Year-by-Year poll with 1932, followed by 1972.

Thank you and happy listing!

Last edited by Rufus-T on February 21st, 2019, 1:25 am, edited 9 times in total.

3) Listed according to IMDb prior to 2018 if the film released in 2018 in your country. These usually are 2016 films and sometimes 2015 films. If earlier than 2016 and I do not notice any 2018 release at any country, I may disqualify it unless you can justify the inclusion in your ballot.

I guess you mean 2017 and 2016.

Is there an easy way to find out which 2017 films were released in 2018 in my country?

FWIW, I don't think making films eligible if they released in 2018 "in your country" is a good choice. I'll be ignoring it, because even though I only saw Call Me By Your Name in late February as that is when it came out here, it would feel silly to vote for a film that will always be counted as a 2017 film in the future, and it would feel sillier still for it to be on the list. IMDB dates have their issues in that people can't vote for stuff that hasn't come out yet, but at least they're (generally) consistent over time.

Anyway, let's list (subject to change, I assume that's fine as long as it's before the deadline ?).

#1 Mandy
#2 Burning
#3 Cold War
#4 Climax
#5 The Favourite
#6 Long Day's Journey Into Night
#7 Isle of Dogs
#8 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
#9 Eighth Grade
#10 The Haunting of Hill House
#11 Annihilation
#12 Under the Silver Lake
#13 Umbilical World
#14 Anon
#15 You Were Never Really There
#16 The House That Jack Built
#17 Shoplifters
#18 The Miseducation of Cameron Post
#19 The Other Side of the Wind
#20 River's Edge (Isao Yukisada)

#1 Tomasz Kot, Cold War
#2 Nicolas Cage, Mandy
#3 John Huston, The Other Side of the Wind
#4 Ah-in Yoo, Burning
#5 Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really There
#6 Andrew Garfield, Under the Silver Lake
#7 Matt Dillon, The House That Jack Built
#8 David Firth, Umbilical World
#9 Clive Owen, Anon
#10 Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lukas

Just need IMDB URLs from people. And if anything breaks, PM me and I'll debug it.

Thanks for the template. I was thinking about begin the use the methodology when doing the regular Year-by-Year poll when without the performance categories. Your spreadsheet is much much fancier than the one I use myself. I may even take advantage your template for the tabulation.

FWIW, I don't think making films eligible if they released in 2018 "in your country" is a good choice.

Someone brought this issue up last year. It turned out that some 2016 IMDb listed films made the cut since it was released early 2017 in many places. I can not say for now how the 2017 films released early 2018 fared. It is up to you if you prefer not to list a 2017 film released in your country in 2018. You are welcome to if you wish to. I hope not to be too formal to ruin the joy for this "challenge" poll. Thank you for your participation

FWIW, I don't think making films eligible if they released in 2018 "in your country" is a good choice.

Someone brought this issue up last year. It turned out that some 2016 IMDb listed films made the cut since it was released early 2017 in many places. I can not say for now how the 2017 films released early 2018 fared. It is up to you if you prefer not to list a 2017 film released in your country in 2018. You are welcome to if you wish to.

I think this leniency only makes sense. Not of all us were able to fly to Britain to watch The Death of Stalin in 2017 so that we could vote for it in last year's poll.

Annihilation
Bad Times at the El Royale
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Beirut
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
Border
Boy Erased
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Cargo
The Death of Stalin
Disobedience
Eighth Grade
The Endless
Every Day
A Fantastic Woman
The Favourite
First Man
First Purge
First Reformed
Game Night
Green Book
Hereditary
The Insult
Isle of Dogs
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Love, Simon
Loveless
Mandy
Marrowbone
Mary Poppins Returns
Maze Runner: The Death Cure
The Meg
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Mute
Ocean's Eight
The Old Man & The Gun
The Predator
A Quiet Place
Rampage
Ready Player One
Searching
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
A Simple Favor
Skyscraper
Sorry to Bother You
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The Square
A Star is Born
Summer of 84
The Testament
Truth or Dare
Tully
Unsane
Upgrade
Vice
Widows
The Wife
You Were Never Really Here

Last edited by sol on February 17th, 2019, 3:48 am, edited 12 times in total.

3) Listed according to IMDb prior to 2018 if the film released in 2018 in your country. These usually are 2016 films and sometimes 2015 films. If earlier than 2016 and I do not notice any 2018 release at any country, I may disqualify it unless you can justify the inclusion in your ballot.

I guess you mean 2017 and 2016.

Is there an easy way to find out which 2017 films were released in 2018 in my country?

Can I get a ruling on THREE BILLBOARDS ??? - it is a 2017 release in country of origin but I live in UK. It had a couple of festival screenings in 2017 here but did not get general release until Jan 2018... I think it eligible... What say you?

FWIW, I don't think making films eligible if they released in 2018 "in your country" is a good choice.

Someone brought this issue up last year. It turned out that some 2016 IMDb listed films made the cut since it was released early 2017 in many places. I can not say for now how the 2017 films released early 2018 fared. It is up to you if you prefer not to list a 2017 film released in your country in 2018. You are welcome to if you wish to.

I think this leniency only makes sense. Not of all us were able to fly to Britain to watch The Death of Stalin in 2017 so that we could vote for it in last year's poll.

Heya! Nice to see you round, tim. Always feels like a blast from the past whenever I catch you around here.

I'm trying not to miss the BEST OF YEARS polls -

Am enjoying imdb2 spasmodically - not the traffic of the old site but enough good eggs for it to be fun.

I saw THE FAVOURITE last night and enjoyed it - not sure it boasts the best collection of female roles since ALL ABOUT EVE as has been touted- but the ladies concerned all put on good performances and seem to be having fun - the film itself amusing, original and irreverent - long way from the usual posh frocks in aspic offerings of Merchant Ivory.

Looking Forward to Spike Lee too - it has garnered his best reviews in an age.

Can't believe you thought OCEANS EIGHT that good Bullock would get my "Most convincing impersonation of a Kardashian award " for sure - But Hathaway was smashing - I'll give you that. One not on yours that will be near top of mine is L'AMANT DOUBLE - effectively a #metoo era DEAD RINGERS - although don't watch with parents or children - some pretty full on sex scenes to navigate.

As compared to most previous years, I've seen almost everything I wanted to by this point, with a few big exceptions. I'll post back with a list in a few days once I fit at least one or two more films into my rear-view.

3) Listed according to IMDb prior to 2018 if the film released in 2018 in your country. These usually are 2016 films and sometimes 2015 films. If earlier than 2016 and I do not notice any 2018 release at any country, I may disqualify it unless you can justify the inclusion in your ballot.

I guess you mean 2017 and 2016.

Is there an easy way to find out which 2017 films were released in 2018 in my country?

Thanks for catching the typo. Fixed.

Not sure if there is an easy way to check other than look at the release date page for the film at IMDb. Generally for me, I follow the film releases through the year and have a general idea what film released in my area even though IMDb may indicated an earlier year.

Can I get a ruling on THREE BILLBOARDS ??? - it is a 2017 release in country of origin but I live in UK. It had a couple of festival screenings in 2017 here but did not get general release until Jan 2018... I think it eligible... What say you?

Can't believe you thought OCEANS EIGHT that good Bullock would get my "Most convincing impersonation of a Kardashian award " for sure - But Hathaway was smashing - I'll give you that. One not on yours that will be near top of mine is L'AMANT DOUBLE - effectively a #metoo era DEAD RINGERS - although don't watch with parents or children - some pretty full on sex scenes to navigate.

Well, I'm a big fan of Soderbergh's original trilogy (I watch the first three films pretty much yearly) so I was probably bound to like Eight from the get-go with the way it so passionately channels the original trilogy. I can't wait for Ocean's Nine and Ten.

Thanks for the recommendation. Ozon is a bit hit-and-miss with me, but that one looks awesome.

3) Listed according to IMDb prior to 2018 if the film released in 2018 in your country. These usually are 2016 films and sometimes 2015 films. If earlier than 2016 and I do not notice any 2018 release at any country, I may disqualify it unless you can justify the inclusion in your ballot.

I guess you mean 2017 and 2016.

Is there an easy way to find out which 2017 films were released in 2018 in my country?

This could be one way to find out the release in your country: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/intl/ <=== select the "region" then "Country" and click on the "YEARLY BOX OFFICE" tab. Not available for all country though.

3) Listed according to IMDb prior to 2018 if the film released in 2018 in your country. These usually are 2016 films and sometimes 2015 films. If earlier than 2016 and I do not notice any 2018 release at any country, I may disqualify it unless you can justify the inclusion in your ballot.

I guess you mean 2017 and 2016.

Is there an easy way to find out which 2017 films were released in 2018 in my country?

This could be one way to find out the release in your country: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/intl/ <=== select the "region" then "Country" and click on the "YEARLY BOX OFFICE" tab. Not available for all country though.

That's at least helpful for the bigger movies. I haven't seen anything else anyway.
Figured out already that I can vote for Three Billboards.

HM: Cold War, Sorry To Bother You, BlacKkKlansman, In Fabric, Shoplifters, You Were Never Really Here (2017), Bergman - A Year in the Life, Hereditary, From Its Mouth Came a River of High-End Residential Appliances (short), Cruel Optimism (short)

Western (Valeska Grisebach, 2017) which i watched in the start of January last year, I do see more as a '17 film than an '18; I also placed it #1 on the 2017 poll last january.

* The Arboretum Cycle is a collection of 6 short films by Nathaniel Dorsky which together make up one piece. It's not on IMDb or ICM. But you can find it on Letterboxd.